Perfect Little Starter Plate

One of these days Andy will write his post calling bull$#@t on starters. (He could, in fact, fill a book dedicated to calling bull$#@t in general.) "Why," he always asks "do we spend so much time putting together a delicious dinner if our guests are just going to fill up on cheese and crackers and approach the table stuffed before they even lift their forks?" I think he has a point, but I also know that a well-curated starter plate is one of the great pleasures in life, and if assembled correctly can actually make you hungrier. As usual, I have a formula in the back of my head when I'm putting one together. It goes something like this:

Perfect Starter Plate = something sweet + something crunchy + something pickled + something from a pig + something aged

The trick is just to not have an obscene amount of any one thing. Above, you'll see a small hunk of aged Manchego, about a quarter pound of Parma (you could do regular prosciutto or Serrano ham), some cornichons from Trader Joe's (the best in my opinion and there would be more in that bowl if the girls didn't eat them like popcorn right from the jar), and some pecan-raisin crackers from Eli's Bread. Lesley Stowe's raincoast crisps (Whole Foods) hit the sweet-crunchy note nicely, too.

Have a great holiday.